Sandy Hutchens Cancer Prevention

UK scientists say they have discovered why some women fail respond to breast cancer treatment, and it is a gene error they believe they can fix.

Tamoxifen is given to most women diagnosed with breast cancer to prevent the cancer returning.

But not all women respond to the drug – experts estimate a third get no benefit.

The work in the journal Cancer Research suggests the problem is too much of a gene called FGFR1.

This discovery could lead to new treatments for these women as scientists “switch off” the action of FGFR1, enabling Tamoxifen to work.

The team of scientists in the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research have already shown this is possible in the lab.

They introduced a drug which “switched off” the action of FGFR1.

Once FGFR1 was stopped, hormone-based treatments like Tamoxifen could get back to work in destroying cancer cells, they found.

The researchers believe this could ultimately help thousands of women each year.

They say one in 10 breast cancer patients has too much of the FGFR1 gene.

Dr Nick Turner, who led the research, said: “Understanding how this gene can cause Tamoxifen resistance reveals a new drug target for treating breast cancers in patients who would otherwise have a poor outcome.

“There are a number of drugs in development that stop FGFR1 working, and clinical studies are investigating whether these drugs work against cancers with too many copies of this gene.

“The next step is to set up a clinical trial to see whether a drug that blocks the action of this gene can counteract hormone therapy resistance in breast cancer patients.

“If these trials confirm our lab work we could be on the verge of a potentially exciting new treatment for breast cancer.”

Dr Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK, the charity which helped fund the work, said: “Cracking the problem of resistance to treatments such as Tamoxifen would be a major advance in treating breast cancer.”

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK affecting more than 45,500 women each year.

Tamoxifen blocks the female sex hormone oestrogen that fuels the growth of some breast tumours.

New Study Claims that 2 Sodas Per Week Increases Pancreatic Cancer Risk

Two soft drinks a week may double the risk of getting pancreatic cancer, according to a recent study.

The soda industry strongly disagreed with the study, calling it flawed and showing other research that did not find an association between soda drinking and pancreatic cancer.

”People who drank two or more soft drinks a week had an 87% increased risk – or nearly twice the risk – of pancreatic cancer compared to individuals consuming no soft drinks,” says study lead author Noel T. Mueller, MPH, a research associate at the Cancer Control Program at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research has published the study.

Cancer of the pancreas was found in over 40,000 people in America in 2009, according to American Cancer Society estimates, and about 35,000 deaths from the disease were expected. The pancreas lies beneath the stomach and creates the hormone insulin to balance blood sugar. It also produces juices with enzymes in order to break down fats and proteins.

Video on pancreatic cancer

Prior studies showed mixed conclusions as to the connection of of soft drinks boosts the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Mueller and his associates studied 60,524 men and women enrolled in a Singapore Chinese Health Study, which began in the early 1990’s, for up to 14 years, to observe their diet and whether they got cancer.

They asked all participants about food intake, including sodas and juices. Mueller says the researchers didn’t ask specifically about diet soda consumption, but that most of the soda drunk was regular or sweetened.

In Singapore at that time, Mueller says, there was very little intake of diet soda.

“We followed the participants for 14 plus years, keeping track of different cancers,” he tells WebMD.

They found 140 cases of pancreatic cancer and looked back to see if there was an association with sodas or juices.

The researchers divided the consumption of sodas and juices into three categories: none, less than two servings a week, or two or more servings a week.

Those who drank two or more a week — the average number was five — had the 87% increased risk, Mueller tells WebMD.

No link was found between juices and pancreatic cancer risk.

Why is there an association with soft drinks? Mueller says they are not certain. “What we believe is the sugar in the soft drinks is increasing the insulin level in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth. That increase in insulin is what may be leading to the development of the cancer.”

His team adjusted for other risk factors, such as advancing age, smoking, diabetes, and body mass index. It is well known that the risk for pancreatic cancer rises with age.

Cancer risk can be markedly reduced through everyday decisions regarding diet, exercise and smoking.

Here are the 10 ways.

1. Moderate your alcohol consumption: drinking alcohol increases the risks of cancers of the pharynx, mouth, larynx, rectum, esophagus, colon, and liver. Women should limit themselves to one alcoholic beverage per day. Men should limit themselves to two.

2. Eat plenty of raw fruits and vegetables: The American Cancer Society recommendation is to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily since they are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other substances that decrease the risk of cancer. Recent studies have shown that the connection between eating vegetables and fruits and lower risk of cancer risk isn’t as strong as once thought. However the majority of researchers still subscribe to the idea that a plant-based diet is one of the best ways to secure overall health.

3. Think about chemoprevention: Chemoprevention is using natural or synthetic compounds to reduce the cancer risk or recurrence. Tamoxifen, prescribed to prevent breast cancer in women, is the most famous chemoprevention agent. The downside: chemoprevention drugs may have serious side effects.

4. Decrease the amount of fat in your diet: Studies suggest that high-fat diets are linked to several types of cancer, including postmenopausal breast, colon, and lung cancer. High-fat diets are usually high in calories and increase the risk of obesity. More study is required to understand which types of fat should be avoided and what amount effects cancer risk.

5. Stay within your ideal weight zone: Being overweight will tend to increase the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer as well as cancers of the endometrium, colon, esophagus and kidney. There have been studies showing that obesity increases the risk of cancers of the prostate, liver, stomach, gallbladder, pancreas, ovary and cervix. Some studies estimate that excess weight is a factor in 15 to 20 percent of cancer-related deaths.

6. Get screening exams: Pap tests, mammograms, colonoscopies and other routine screenings obviously don’t prevent cancer. But screenings will detect cancers early, when treatment is more likely to be successful.

7. Exercise: Evidence increasingly suggests that people who exercise have lower risk of certain cancers than those who are sedentary. From 45 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day, on most days of the week, is considered optimal to decrease the risk of breast and colorectal cancers.

8. Limit radiation exposure: Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, from the sun, sunlamps or commercial tanning beds, is the primary cause of skin cancer.

9. Stop smoking or don’t start smoking: The risk of cancers caused by smoking is proportional with the length of time a person has smoked and the quantity of cigarettes smoked. Lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death among Americans is caused by smoking. Quitting smoking decreases the risk of lung cancer and it is never too late to take action on this.

10. Guard yourself from infection: Infections caused by viruses are well known to be risk factors for a wide variety of cancers. Human papillomavirus (HPV), which is a sexually transmitted disease, is the most frequent cause of cervical cancer. Chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C aggravate the risk of liver cancer. They are usually spread by contact with contaminated blood, contaminated needles or sex. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that leads to AIDS, additionally increase the risk of many cancers.